Wagner’s Anti-Semitism

Not your garden-variety Jew hater.

There is little doubt that the great German composer Richard Wagner was one of the most virulent anti-Semites in modern history as well as being Adolf Hitler’s most revered cultural role-model. Nor can it be seriously disputed that his music arouses the most painful associations in many Holocaust survivors still living in Israel.

Hence, admirers of Wagner’s music, despite their strenuous efforts to separate the man and his racist beliefs from the sublimity of his art, have never been entirely successful in shaking off the indelible taint of Nazism and the death camps attached (rightly or wrongly) to his name.

At first sight, this might seem unfair given that Richard Wagner was born 200 years ago (May 22, 1813) and died 50 years before Hitler came to power in Germany. Not only that, but Wagner was far from being the only leading European composer or prominent artist of his time to exhibit antipathy toward Jews. One thinks of Liszt and Chopin or painters like Degas and Renoir, not to mention renowned writers such as Dostoevsky.

Moreover, Theodor Herzl, the visionary founder of the Jewish State, was himself powerfully impressed by Wagner’s creations precisely at the time he laid the conceptual basis for political Zionism.

So, what is it about Wagner’s attitude to the Jews, or his music and personality, that can explain the deep resistance to public rendition of his works in Israel? And is it, in fact, correct to see in Wagner a kind of proto-Nazi before his time? Or should we be more forgiving along with Thomas Mann (a passionate Wagnerian who became an astute critic of the Master)? What, indeed, we might ask, would modern music be without Wagner’s aesthetic revolution, his universal artwork (Gesammtkunstwerk) of the future, his dramatic expressiveness or masterful merging of text and music? Even the legendary Jewish conductor Leonard Bernstein had to admit: “I hate Wagner, but I hate him on my knees.”

The Wagner debate is not an easy one to resolve, least of all at a time of resurgent anti-Semitism in Europe. Already in his notorious early tract Jewry in Music (1850), Wagner had identified the Jews as “the plastic demon of the decline of mankind” – decadent symbols of the corrupt, money-making new world that the composer loathed.

In 1881, he wrote to his infatuated patron, Ludwig II of Bavaria: “I hold the Jewish race to be the born enemy of pure humanity and everything noble in it.” Wagner even suggested that he was “the last German who knows how to hold himself upright in the face of Jewry, which already rules everything.” No wonder that the young Adolf Hitler could see in Wagner a true soul-mate and remained to the end a fanatical worshipper of his boyhood idol.

What the two shared, however, was far more than simply visceral Jew-hatred. Hitler was enchanted by the ecstatic appeal of the great Wagnerian themes of heroic sacrifice and betrayal, redemption and death, the restored world of Germanic myths, of titanic passions and the twilight of the gods. Hitler, like so many Wagner addicts, felt transported by Wagner’s music into a mystical trance, plunged into a mesmeric spectacle of heroic beings like Rienzi, Tannhäuser or Siegfried who appeared to challenge the established bourgeois order; or ascetic saviors like Lohengrin and Parsifal come to redeem a corrupt and degenerate world. In Hitler’s twisted imagination, Parsifal was ultimately a drama about “blood purity” and racial regeneration: a distortion perhaps, but these ideas certainly preoccupied Wagner in his last years.

There is also a sense in which Hitler may indeed have seen himself as the political consummator of Wagner’s artistic genius and the Nazi Reich which he founded as a grandiose fulfillment of the Wagnerian Gesammtkunstwerk. Purging Germany (and Europe) of its Jews fit perfectly into this broader world-view oriented towards “racial cleansing.”

It might, of course, be objected that Wagner can hardly be held responsible for the monstrous way in which the Nazis implemented some parts of his vision half a century later. Moreover, many Wagnerians – then and now – were utterly remote from Nazism. Indeed, some were self-proclaimed humanists, socialists, feminists, vegetarians and free-thinkers.

Nevertheless, there were perceptive critics such as the German philosopher Nietzsche, who divined as early as 1888 the possible consequences of the Wagner-cult at Bayreuth. Nietzsche (a former admirer himself) shrilly denounced Wagner’s art as diseased, narcotic, morbid, hysterical and brutal. His scathing portrait of Wagner as a master of hypnotic trickery, a neurotic tyrant with an actor’s genius, an incomparable histrionic personality – seems at some points to uncannily prefigure Hitler.

It is also worth noting in this anniversary year that it was Nietzsche’s break with Wagner that finally freed him from the incubus of Bayreuth’s anti-Semitic tradition. Nietzsche himself was of course used and abused by the Nazis, no less than Wagner. Nevertheless, there was an important difference. The manipulation of Wagner’s legacy in the Third Reich really had solid roots in the art and ideology of the “master of Bayreuth.

About the Author

BIO: Professor Robert S Wistrich holds the Neuberger Chair of Modern European and Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and is the director of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism (SICSA); His most recent books are From Ambivalence to Betrayal: The Left, the Jews, and Israel (University of Nebraska Press, 2012) and Holocaust Denial: The Politics of Perfidy (De Gruyter, 2012)

The opinions expressed in the comment section are the personal views of the commenters. Comments are moderated, so please keep it civil.

Visitor Comments: 39

(25)
Clabbogadringham,
November 28, 2017 6:43 AM

By the 19th century, there had been so much racial mixing between Jews and Germans for centuries that it was very hard to separate Jews and Germans from each other as distinct entities. Wagner himself exhibits very strong Jewish traits, especially in the way that he hated Jews, for he hated Jews as only a Jew can. Wagner also evinced a desperate need to distance himself from Jews as if he were aware of his own Jewishness and was at great pains to deny it by declaring war on Jewish characteristics in chapter and verse. In view of which, it would not be surprising for a Jew-hater to hate Wagner for acting like a Jew.

(24)
Mike,
November 25, 2014 3:11 PM

It's character that counts.

My uncle (may he rest in piece) refused to drive a Ford car his whole life. It didn't matter that Henry Ford was long dead or that his built great cars. It didn't matter that Henry Ford was famous or much beloved for his contribution to the American economy. What mattered was Henry Ford's flawed character. Henry Ford was a virulent anti-Semite. In Uncle Bernie's eyes, Ford's hatred of Jews rendered his accomplishments meaningless. I believe that the same standards can be applied to Wagner. He wrote great music, but he was filled with hate. My Uncle drove all kinds of cars, including roadsters and sports cars. He never missed driving a Ford car. There are plenty options available for those who love music. Nobody needs Wagner.

(23)
Anonymous,
December 1, 2013 8:02 PM

Why not boycott Mendelssohn's music, while you're at it?

I'm more disgusted by Felix Mendelssohn, whose parents refused to circumcise their son, converted the family to Christianity, and changed the family name to "Mendelssohn-Bartholdy." Felix married a Christian minister's daughter. His grandfather was Rabbi Moses Mendelssohn, the so-called "Father of the Reform Movement," who caused as much of a holocaust as Hitler that continues to today. But no one talks about boycotting Felix Mendelssohn's music.

(22)
Saul,
December 1, 2013 12:23 PM

Twain on Wagner

Mark Twain had ir right: "Wagner's music is better than it sounds."

Clabbogadringham,
December 1, 2017 5:40 AM

Sanitized Music

Most of it is a dead bore, and it is fully as bad as it sounds. There is a self-consciously washed, sanitized, antiseptic, sterilized quality to Wagner's music that reflects the composer's fanatical determination to debarras it of everything emotional that might identify it with Judaïsm. Most of it sounds like a little boy playing with his toy fire engines.

(21)
Albert Hache,
August 26, 2013 4:12 AM

tell me the music you love and I'll tell you who you are!

Hitler enjoyed Wagner's music. Einstein preferred Mozart and Mendelssohn's, I suppose.There is a great variety of music, there is music for every type of soul, from the purest to the blackest. But there is no real music without love and no greater music than that which is inspired by a longing for G-d, a love which extends to all His creatures. A great artist cannot but be a truly good and compassionate man.How could the music emanating from the mind of a hater of Jews be good in anyway?

(20)
Feigele,
June 11, 2013 5:29 PM

Listen to other Music

I have to add to my comments that although my soul is deeply moved by Wagner’s music, I haven’t for a very long time and won’t anymore listen to it. Like I won’t watch any movies/tv shows about certain antisemites actors. There are indeed so many others artists to listen to or watch, enough for a lifetime, thanks G-d for that.

(19)
max,
June 4, 2013 10:10 PM

there's other music out there

Unless you've been force-fed Wagner from childhood and addicted to it, or are not aware of his views, it would seem to me to be a no-brainer to boycott his music. After all there's plenty of great music out there of all genres which doesn't have Nazi associations. To avoid eating rubbish food (however tasty and appetising it is) get addicted to healthy food.

Dorit,
June 5, 2013 6:30 PM

Right!

It is exactly how I feel about it.
And if this wasn't enough reason not to play his works - especially in Israel: just consider how it "works" with your hurt ones through that atrocious time ... isn't that enough:
To keep one's sensitivenness in your country? You know - especially this is a character trait very "special" and appreciated.
Shalom - and be blessed.
PS: The Wagner family are still celebrating their special "heritage" every year - as if they were celebrating themselves - they do not play other works at that time ... they obviously really "need" that "being especially special" - it's sad in my eyes.

(18)
Feigele,
May 30, 2013 5:25 PM

G-d’s Music!

Distinctive sounds takes you to another dimension, it reaches such depth in your soul and heart. You have to be very sensitive and receptive to music to feel it. Wagner’s music has reached that point where your mind and soul are transported together with the flow of its heights and lows, feeling all the pain and joy that nature offers us. The question is: “Why does G-d give such gifts to such wicked humans?” Is it because in every human there is good and bad? And maybe we should only acknowledge the good! The music is given to us by G-d via a “container”, If you will, and it’s all that count.

(17)
Albert Hache,
May 30, 2013 4:13 AM

finality of music

Everybody seeks happiness. People find it wherever they can., more often that not in the wrong places. Its lower form is associated with pleasure, some pleasures are purer than others, its higher form is the pure, innocent Happiness found in saints and small children. A religious man calls it God, an artist beauty, a beggar charity, a good man finds pleasure in compassionate actions, a sadist in seeing other people suffer, a bad mad finds his pleasure in evil deeds, a murderer satisfaction in killing, etc.In the same way, different musics address different centers in us. Although each category may have its nuances, can we not say that Great music stirs the soul and takes us closer to God, that military marches serve a bellicose purpose and stirs patriotic feelings, (some people find war glorious and beautiful, thanks to them for their willingness to fight the Nazis) that Blues is a lament, the only joy available to a poor, miserable slave, that Jazz, Rock, and other such syncopated and aggressive yelling, address the body’s desires rather than the soul’s aspirations and have sexual overtones, that Rap is disturbing and stirs violent revolt and hatred, etc. Where does Wagner’s music take one? Is there anything truly great about it?

(16)
Feigele,
May 29, 2013 5:26 PM

Jews used as Muse

For years I was too mesmerized by Wagner’s music until I learned about his abhorrence for Jews. It seems that it wasn’t only against Jews but also against Society in general. As usual, the Jews were used as scapegoat and also as a muse, which might have inspired Wagner’s music being so dramatic nurturing his soul and influencing the heights and lows of his music. Without the Jews, he might have never reached such deepness and dramatic flows in his music. On the contrary, I believe he would have been satisfied to know that Jewish people enjoyed his music, which might have been written because of them influenced by his feelings towards them. Of course, one could feel guilty listening to it but then isn’t also a gift of G-d? G-d inspires the good spirits as well as the bad ones. Other people have been sander throughout History and their lives reviewed, as we should never ever forget who hurt us and who helped us.

Anonymous,
June 5, 2013 6:43 PM

To be a "creation" is not enough ...

Maybe, I don't understand you correctly - but to what I take from your comment, I'd like to say that "having good creation" in oneself doesn't make the work "alright" or even "fine" -
no, we humans are called to make "right" decisions - and we will be held responsible for what we decide nowadays. You see how Wagner's work encouraged Hitler (this couldn't be done by the works done with a decent heart at the time doing it).
What I learn from this article, is that everything that isn't condoned with the Lord G'D, will do "it's works" - so, we are really responsible.
Still, today the family of this composer are "blowing their own horn" - no, it's not blessed: there is no freedom, no greatness, no (spiritual or any) richness - no "Shalom" in it, as I perceive it.
Be blessed & Shalom.

(15)
Isaac Haskiya,
May 28, 2013 3:13 PM

Wagner must have despised his singers.

Many of them were Jews. He did not like them but he couldn´t do without them. Reality is a bitter pill.

(14)
Anonymous,
May 28, 2013 8:13 AM

Talent is inborn, what you do with it is not.

Talent is inborn, what you do with it is not. That he wrote music is not suprising (just like monkeys can peel bananas). What he did with his talent? Did he really believe that such a small population is the cause of the world's problems? Or was he promoting his own crooked agenda?

(13)
Ed Goldsmith,
May 27, 2013 10:32 PM

I'm a professional clubdate piano player. Wagner's music never impressed me, especially his bombastic shrieking operas.

(12)
sonia,
May 27, 2013 5:38 PM

But he was a great composer...

Israeli-Argentine orchestra conductor, Daniel Baremboim, has written quite a lot about this.Yes ,some artists have poitical views that may have been towards tyranny and tragedy. Picasso and Neruda were pro-Stalin communists, yet those paintings and poems are huge works of art-. so happens with Wagner's music. It means tragedy to a generation, true. But as far as I know, there is not antisemitism in his music.

Julian Menter,
May 28, 2013 8:44 PM

On Wagner as composer and anti semite

He was gifted as a great composer, but he was not a good person. Not only was he an antisemite, but also an adulturer, and petty thief. I do not think his abilityto string notes together should be an excuse for the apologists.

(11)
albert hache,
May 27, 2013 1:45 PM

What's great music first

Anyone who believes Wagner to be a great musician, knows nothing about music nor greatness. Sorry.

Lloyd A. Oestreicher,
May 27, 2013 5:20 PM

wagner

HE WAS A GREAT COMPOSER WHO HAZTED JEWS. WHY? ONLY GOD KNOWS END OF STORY. LOTS OF PEOPOLE HATE JEWS. THEY ARE CRAZY TOO. I LIKE HIS MUSIC. I DO NOT LIKE HIM.

(10)
Milos,
May 27, 2013 9:58 AM

Mistakes and omissions

Unlike many another article against Wagner I believe this one was written in good faith. However it has several mistakes, omissions and incosistencies that ultimately misrepresent Wagner. I particularly take exception at the last sentence, which I believe is completely incorrect.

While all nazis are antisemites not all antisemites are nazis or their forbearers. Wagner's politics and ideology diverged with the nazis far more then it converged. Wagner was an anti-imperialist, anti-militarist and late in his life, a pacifist. His philosophy, especially since he got acquainted with Schopenhauer, exalts compassion and renounciation of one's will as the highest virtues and the road to redemption. How could this give solid ideological roots to someone who wrote that compassion is "a mixture of stupidity, cowardice and vanity"(the quote is from "My struggle" by Hitler)?

And as eminent historian Saul Friedlander has shown, Hitler could not be 100% comfortable even with Wagner's antisemitism, and even a careful reading of the infomous "Jewishness in music" leads to the conclusion that antisemitism of Wagner is from a different cloth then that of Hitler.

Prof. Wistrich omitts the fact that Hitler never quoted Wagner in his speeches, he never invoked him as political and idelogical, either in public or in private. His private library that contained almost 1300 books had not one by Wagner, not even "Jewishness in music". I can back each of my assertions with quotes from relevant primary sources and other footnotes.

(9)
Ian Murray,
May 27, 2013 8:58 AM

Wagner

Despite his antisemitism, Wagner was also pragmatic. He had a long friendship with the conductor Hermann Levi. The son of a Rabbi, Levi was chosen by Wagner to conduct the first performance of Parsifal. I don't think Hitler would have admired Wagner for that!!

grun,
May 27, 2013 3:44 PM

The usual

The usual....'All my best friends are Jewish'

(8)
Dvora,
May 27, 2013 6:27 AM

I appreciate this information

I was wondering about this point last week, and checked in the Wikipedia, but didn't find any background information on his anti-semitism. As a youth in America, I remember feeling tremendous power when playing his music in my youth orchestra. When I came to live in Israel and heard who he had been, I realized that it must be an impure power. I appreciate knowing the background. Thank you.

(7)
Charlie Hall,
May 27, 2013 4:20 AM

Wagner may have been anti-religion in general

I write this having recently seen Wagner's "Ring of the Nibelungen". There is a scene in "Siegfried" in which Erda tells Wotan "You are not what you think you are." In this four opera cycle whose major theme is the downfall of the Gods, I see that as an attack on all formal religion, not just Judaism. Wagner's lack of boundaries in all things is well documented; he compulsively spent money that wasn't his, and repeatedly seduced the wives of his patrons. He would have been a despicable person even had he not been a vile anti-Semite! Religion sets boundaries on our behavior; boundaries that the brilliant Wagner thought should not apply to him. It is natural that a nomian religion like Judaism that sets the most clear boundaries would get his attention the most. Ayn Rand would approve.

(6)
dmorse,
May 27, 2013 2:57 AM

Lord Rabbi Sacks

Says music is the language of the soul. Chasidic thought says that music connects the souls of the composer and listener, and I for one, prefer not to be connected to Wagner. The dilemma is that any composer of that era is liable to be an anti-Semite. Orff, Strauss, any of them, and I'd rather not be limited to just Orthodox music. As I said, a dilemma...

(5)
Anonymous,
May 27, 2013 12:29 AM

WAGNER

Everything you write is true, but i try to forget while I am listening this music, just listen and enjoy it, the rest will always be there, present, in our minds and in the History.

(4)
sam enderby,
May 26, 2013 7:11 PM

Is anyone familiar with the Wittgenstein family connection in all this? Convoluted but interesting as heck: from Wagner's virulent anti-semitism (was it always?) and Cosima's relation with her father's mistress and finally to a public school in Linz...

(3)
Chris Rettenmoser,
May 26, 2013 5:59 PM

kitsch music

Wagners music is kitsch and he was a rotten Antisemite, a forerunner of the Nazis...he should be cursed till eternity...!

Tatyana Solovey,
May 27, 2013 3:51 AM

Agree

Dear Chris,thank you.
I agree with you with all my heart.
He should be cursed together with all damn Antisemites- the past,present and future.

(2)
J. A. Coulter,
May 26, 2013 3:05 PM

To use slanderous speech one should be able to show a real public benifit.

All though, under legal ethics standards you can't sander the dead, from an ethical standpoint; theological level of course, I do not always see a logical or legitimate reason for the almost compulsive in not pathological need of some to write such articles emphasizing examples of the stupidity of anti-semitism of the great and near great of ancient history. It more often appears to be a standard topic for those writers who are too lazy to write anything more meaningful dealing with today's world. Lets write an article that will scare our Jewish neighbors that a few hatemongers are out there promoting their own stupidity.

Stanley Tee,
May 26, 2013 8:46 PM

Nonsensical comment

So never say anything bad about the dead? Don't learn from history? What utter nonsense. If you're not interested in articles like these, don't read them. It's that simple.

Anonymous,
May 27, 2013 3:50 PM

..to add to your thought ..the rule of not slandering the dead..'shlo lehotzi lazz all hamaysim, does not extent to wicked, hateful people.The same law goes regarding lahsan horah.

(1)
David,
May 26, 2013 3:04 PM

Great artist; rotten human being

He's dead, and not making any royalties off his music. I listen to it with happiness, and the fact that he would be annoyed that he's making a Jew happy only adds to my enjoyment!

Anonymous,
May 26, 2013 8:07 PM

I couldn't agree more!

Bruce McNair,
May 27, 2013 3:20 AM

Agreed

You are absolutely right in this. I've always enjoyed Wagner but felt twinges of guilt in doing so. Not any more. I hope he is very annoyed!

Shelly,
May 27, 2013 4:31 AM

No Royalties For You!

David, that is a fabulous way of thinking. He is probably rolling over in his grave knowing how happy he is making some of the people he so deeply despised! And no royalties are being Isis to that anti Semite. Gotta love it!

Ben gasner,
May 27, 2013 5:44 AM

I enjoy your ending on a happy note.

Milos,
May 27, 2013 9:34 AM

He would not be annoyed by it

Just like he wasn't annoyed that his music made happy Herman Levi, Josef Rubinstein, Carl Tausig, Heinrich Porges, Angelo Neumann, Alfred Pringsheim(Thomas Mann's father-in-law who even went to a duel against a man who insulted Wagner in his presence)...

My nephew is having his bar mitzvah and I am thinking of a gift. In the old days, the gift of choice was a fountain pen, then a Walkman, and today an iPod. But I want to get him something special. What do you suggest?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

Since this event celebrates the young person becoming obligated in the commandments, the most appropriate gift is, naturally, one that gives a deeper understanding of the Jewish heritage and enables one to better perform the mitzvot! (An iPod, s/he can get anytime.)

With that in mind, my favorite gift idea is a tzedakah (charity) box. Every Jew should have a tzedakah box in his home, so he can drop in change on a regular basis. The money can then be given to support a Jewish school or institution -- in your home town or in Israel (every Jews’ “home town”). There are beautiful tzedakah boxes made of wood and silver, and you can see a selection here.

For boys, a really beautiful gift is a pair of tefillin, the black leather boxes which contain parchments of Torah verses, worn on the bicep and the head. Owning a pair of Tefillin (and wearing them!) is an important part of Jewish identity. But since they are expensive (about $400), not every Bar Mitzvah boy has a pair. To make sure you get kosher Tefillin, see here.

In 1944, the Nazis perpetrated the Children's Action in the Kovno Ghetto. That day and the next, German soldiers conducted house-to-house searches to round up all children under age 12 (and adults over 55) -- and sent them to their deaths at Fort IX. Eventually, the Germans blew up every house with grenades and dynamite, on suspicion that Jews might be in hiding in underground bunkers. They then poured gasoline over much of the former ghetto and incinerated it. Of the 37,000 Jews in Kovno before the Holocaust, less than 10 percent survived. One of the survivors was Rabbi Ephraim Oshri, who later published a stirring collection of rabbinical responsa, detailing his life-and-death decisions during the Holocaust. Also on this date, in 1937, American Jews held a massive anti-Nazi rally in New York City's Madison Square Garden.

In a letter to someone who found it difficult to study Torah, the 20th century sage the Chazon Ish wrote:

"Some people find it hard to be diligent in their Torah studies. But the difficulty persists only for a short while - if the person sincerely resolves to submerge himself in his studies. Very quickly the feelings of difficulty will go away and he will find that there is no worldly pleasure that can compare with the pleasure of studying Torah diligently."

Although actions generally have much greater impact than thoughts, thoughts may have a more serious effect in several areas.

The distance that our hands can reach is quite limited. The ears can hear from a much greater distance, and the reach of the eye is much farther yet. Thought, however, is virtually limitless in its reach. We can think of objects millions of light years away, and so we have a much greater selection of improper thoughts than of improper actions.

Thought also lacks the restraints that can deter actions. One may refrain from an improper act for fear of punishment or because of social disapproval, but the privacy of thought places it beyond these restraints.

Furthermore, thoughts create attitudes and mindsets. An improper action creates a certain amount of damage, but an improper mindset can create a multitude of improper actions. Finally, an improper mindset can numb our conscience and render us less sensitive to the effects of our actions. We therefore do not feel the guilt that would otherwise come from doing an improper act.

We may not be able to avoid the occurrence of improper impulses, but we should promptly reject them and not permit them to dwell in our mind.

Today I shall...

make special effort to avoid harboring improper thoughts.

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